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Friday, June 5th, 2009
Making Yourself More Trustworthy, Knowledgeable And Likeable With Your Online Presence
Online Trust is paramount to success if your primary customer base comes from doingbusiness online. Here are some tips from Hal Wilkerson on how to shore up and reinforce that trust.
1. Enhance your Amazon.com Online profile
I’ve referenced this before, but just having this history of books that you have read, reviews you’ve placed, things you’ve liked or disliked, just serves as one more reason for people to like you. Who knows, this simple act could help you make a connection over a common interest that someone that you may have never even considered otherwise.
2. Follow up on all FaceBook posts or @mentions on Twitter
If someone takes the time to mention you or post on your status or photo- take the time to respond to them- you’ll be amazed what kind of loyalty that will build. An offline example, and much more personal as well, is to go to Office Depot or Office Max, go to their printing section, and order some high-quality card stock stationary that has your name printed across the top of it. Then go to the post office and spend $50 bucks on 100 ‘forever’ stamps. Put these in your desk drawer and when you make a meaningful connection, take 3 minutes, hand write a nice thank you, or note of encouragement on your stationary, and put it in the mail. It’s simple, yet highly effective. People respond to a personal touch. Don’t forsake your ‘real life’ image when you are building your ‘online’ one. I know this may be odd to have this here, but think about the last time you got a personal note in the mail. Isn’t it better getting something personal, rather than a bill or some marketing flyer in the mail? The same goes with FaceBook and Twitter… in addition to the personalized stationary. Make sure you get the nice cardstock stationary… don’t scrimp on this, because this card, and its quality, as well as the personal note from you reflects who you are.. If you have a card for your business, obviously, include this in the envelope.
3. Have fun, and don’t take yourself too seriously
Need I say more? Remember, the Internet is a place filled with people… and people like to have fun. One thing I try and do every morning is post a #turnitup video to my blog and link to it on Twitter. I make it an upbeat fun song that I find on YouTube. There are tons of good, quality videos on YouTube, and remember the more links in and out of your website, the higher page rank it will receive from almighty Google. Make sure your music video is in HD at a minimum… unless it’s just a really old school one that you want to put out there, like say some good ole’ Bon Jovi or maybe some Creedence Clearwater original concert footage.
4. Use an iPhone or Flip Video Recorder to record daily thoughts or tips about your business or subject matter of interest.
Some folks are more comfortable doing this than others. If you aren’t comfortable talking on camera, practice, practice, practice. The great thing about digital video is that it is so easy just to hit the delete button if you aren’t happy with it. Another great thing about digital video is that it is so, so, SO easy to distribute it today. YouTube, Vimeo, Google Video, FaceBook Video… there are literally countless outlets to put your videos out. I’d focus on the big ones though. YouTube is pretty much the accepted standard. Spend some time developing your YouTube ‘Channel’ so that all of your videos are in one place. YouTube is another great spot to let people see what you are all about and develop a history with your posts. By the way, I learned today that the second most popular search engine is now YouTube. If you aren’t on YouTube, you are missing a tremendous amount of traffic to your site.
I try and do a video update on a daily basis, and I typically do it while I’m driving. I don’t know why, I just find I’m able to talk better when I’m doing something else. I get a lot of traction on my website though, the visit time is pretty good and bounce rate is actually fairly low. A no-brainer about video on your site is that it translates to a longer visit time because people do like to watch video. And more time on your site equals more opportunities to pick up a lead. if what you are saying is helpful and relevant, then people will watch it.
6. Be honest, forthcoming and authentic in all articles, posts or anything that is attached to your name.
You are branding YOU. People buy from people they trust. Be trustworthy. Remember that it is of utmost importance to maintain your integrity in your online presence. Remember, regardless of the medium, the message that you put out must be the same. Internet Marketing has gotten somewhat of a bad name in it’s infancy because of so many ‘enhance this body part’ or ‘buy this blue pill’ or whatever ads. Those are just spammers who are trying to capitalize on unsuspecting, unaware consumers who may fail to recognize spam when they see it. I can’t emphasize enough… be honest, for surely you will be found out. Integrity is so critical in this business, especially given that it is a relatively unregulated industry at this time. The moment your integrity comes in to question is the moment you will begin losing business. Don’t break your audiences trust.
7. Build an email list
Create an ‘opt in’ form on your website that enables readers to input their email address and continue hearing from you. There are many mass mail service providers out there that provide a template for doing just this. The more people you have on your email list, the better. Mail Chimp, iContact and aWeber are just three great examples of services that are well worth their investment. Email marketing has one of the Highest ROI’s of any other medium on the Internet. The bigger your list, the bigger your influence, the better positioned you are to capitalize on opportunities from this. However… more than just having a list is building a relationship… which leads to number 8…
8. Create an email newsletter.
People read your stuff. And people want to be communicated with. They gave you their email address for a reason… now use it! Don’t make your newsletters overly long, don’t make them overly detailed. Just pick a few topics and write succinctly and be engaging. If you aren’t good at writing, try making a recording of what you say and then transcribe it. If that doesn’t work, try making a video and then do the same… and if that still doesn’t work, go on http://elance.com and hire someone to do it for you. The most important thing though is to begin communicating in a professional, sharp manner that will draw professional, sharp individuals to you. The higher the quality of your newsletter the higher the quality of your image, which in my business translates to a higher quality of lead.
OK, I’m on a roll here, lets make it 9…
9. Publish that newsletter regularly.
Now, just because you’ve got that list, and you’ve sent out an email, doesn’t mean you just do it once and forget about it. You need to stay engaged. Create a drip, drip, drip of data coming from you. If you want to set it and forget it, you can design a handful of emails and then have services like the mail companies I mentioned above deliver them automatically over time. Isn’t the Internet wonderful?
Alright, I might as well make it a nice even 10…
10. Respect and communicate with your email list with useful, relevant Information.
Just because you have a list of emails of people that are interested in you, doesn’t mean you get to send them annoying emails every day. Have you ever gotten on a list from someone like that… and after a while you were like SHEESH! UNSUBSCRIBE!! It’s happened to me occasionally. But companies that have understood the power of drip marketing that an email campaign can provide reap huge dividends. And you can do the same. However, it’s a fine balance. If you do it too much, your unsubscribe rate will increase, if you don’t do it enough, you may not be harvesting any leads from your list. I err on the side of less is more. But not too less.
Well, that’s my 8, er 10 ways to get people to know you, trust you and like you before they do business with you on the Internet. A lot of these rules apply to offline business too, but with the Internet, technology becomes your servant, and you will find yourself being 100% more effective utilizing some of the above tips in your business.
Hal Wilkerson of http://www.halwilkerson.com
1050 Bishop Street #185 Honolulu, HI, 96813
About the Author
Hal Wilkerson is an Internet Marketer and Entrepreneur from Honolulu, HI. He regularly contributes to the online community in mentoring up and coming Internet Marketers and showing them how to find the same success he’s found. On the weekends one will most likely find him Stand Up Paddleboarding around the shores of Oahu or on a run with his Irish Setter Murphy.
How to:Create webform from Aweber to show in Facebook Profile
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